What are Salt Pan Lands?

About Salt Pan lands:

• These are parcels of low-lying lands where seawater flows in at certain times, and leaves behind salt and other minerals.
• This ecosystem is instrumental in protecting the city from flooding.
• According to the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification of 2011, the ecologically sensitive salt pans fall under CRZ-1B category, where no economic activity is allowed with the exception of salt extraction and natural gas exploration.
• Nationally, some 60,000 acres have been demarcated as salt pan lands, spread across Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Gujarat, and Karnataka.
• Andhra Pradesh (20,716 acres) boasts the largest expanse of such land, followed by Tamil Nadu (17,095 acres) and Maharashtra (12,662 acres).
• Ecological Significance: Salt pans, which, along with the mangroves, stop the city from flooding, also host various species of birds and insects.

What are Coastal Regulation Zones?

• The coastal land up to 500m from the High Tide Line (HTL) and a stage of 100m along banks of creeks, estuaries, backwater and rivers subject to tidal fluctuations, is called the Coastal Regulation Zone.

Q1: What is an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)?

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is defined under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as an area of the ocean extending up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) immediately offshore from a country’s land coast in which that country retains exclusive rights to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources.

Source: Controversy over Mumbai’s salt pans: why do these lands matter?